00:00WCW pay-per-views returning, Dijak calls WWE contracts illegal, Mercedes Monet shoots on
00:07DaHaters, and more.
00:09I'm Oli Davis, getting elected for the Pipebomb Greater the Math Party, and this is the WrestleTalk
00:15News.
00:22Pop culture is just one society-wide Ouroboros, the ancient Egyptian symbol of a dragon trying
00:28to blow itself.
00:29It's a metaphor for how trends just keep cycling over and over again.
00:33That's why, in 2024, low-slung jeans are back in fashion, people other than Matt and
00:39Jeff Hardy are wearing mesh tops, and Avril Lavigne is my jam right now.
00:44I'm with you!
00:48And also, almost a quarter of a century after it closed, WCW is now more talked about than
00:54ever.
00:55Following the Eric Bischoff PR docuseries Who Really Killed WCW on Vice, and WWE filing
01:01to trademark the initials WCW for merchandising purposes in early June, WWE has now gone on
01:07a spate of trademarking various pay-per-view names from WCW's past.
01:12Superbrawl, The Match Beyond, and, most appropriately for me trying to make Solo Sakoa's own Bloodline
01:18name faction happen, New Blood Rising.
01:22All three of those trademarks are for entertainment services, namely, an ongoing show about professional
01:27wrestling.
01:28Entertainment services, namely, the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events
01:32rendered live and through broadcast media, including television, and distributed via
01:37various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media.
01:41WWE has already repurposed several WCW pay-per-view titles for NXT, with Halloween Havoc and the
01:47Great American Bash getting annual specials.
01:50Perhaps with New Blood Rising, they could be looking to do this for the main roster,
01:54with a Bloodline Civil War themed show in the latter part of this year, as November's
01:59Crown Jewel is the only announced PLE post-August.
02:02Or it could be something far more substantial.
02:06In early June, I speculated that WWE filing to trademark WCW for merchandise purposes
02:12could be part of their new parent company TKO strategy.
02:16One of the first things new media company owners do is take an audit of their new purchasers'
02:21IP, and identify what they could be doing more with.
02:24Just look at Disney buying anything, and how they immediately start making too many series
02:29of that one thing you liked in the 80s.
02:31But WCW has a serious amount of unrealised potential.
02:35Just look at AEW's huge buy rate for February's Revolution show, which was built around Sting's
02:40retirement.
02:41TKO could do anything with it, from a new, hopefully much better documentary, a one-off
02:46WCW Retro special episode of Monday Night Raw slash Nitro, or even a whole new WCW branded
02:53spin-off show on Netflix.
02:56What do you want to see WWE do with the WCW brand?
02:59Let me know in the comments, where I'll be replying to people FROM OUTTA NOWHERE WITH
03:03THE SAME ANSWER I'M GIVING EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW, PUT SHANE MCMAHON ON IT.
03:08Before then, though, there's WWE's Money in the Bank PLE on Saturday 6th, taking place
03:13in Toronto, Canada, eh?
03:15And a very famous wrestler from Toronto, Canada, eh? has just dropped a tease on her Instagram,
03:21with Trish Stratus posting a video of her walking around the street wearing her Stratus
03:25Faction jacket.
03:27Trish hasn't been seen in WWE since losing to Becky Lynch at last September's Payback,
03:31where she turned on her protégé Zoey Stark.
03:34Stark, coincidentally, qualified for the Women's Money in the Bank match on Monday's
03:38Raw.
03:39Stratus has been advertised for meet and greets for Money in the Bank's premium packages,
03:43so it could also be her way of promoting that, rather than an actual wrestling appearance.
03:48Unlike Trish, who'll probably always be cheered even as a heel, Mercedes Monet will
03:53always be booed even if she's a face.
03:56So thankfully, on Wednesday's episode of Dynamite, AEW finally booked her as a full-on
04:01villain.
04:02She was seen with the heel Elite Authority figures, and entering a feud with returning
04:05babyface Britt Baker.
04:07Luke speculated on our AEW review podcast that this wasn't always the plan.
04:12He reckoned AEW wanted to do a babyface vs babyface feud with Monet and Britt, just as
04:17they had done with Monet vs Willow.
04:19Even though that would've been better as a traditional heel vs face dynamic too.
04:22But because Monet got booed so much at Sunday's Forbidden Door by the New York crowd, she's
04:27from Boston, Luke suspects Tony Khan decided to course correct and lean in to the fan reactions.
04:33And now Mercedes herself might have confirmed this in her latest newsletter.
04:39My fellow board members of yours truly, CEO Mercedes Monet, I would like to know whoever
04:44was a part of the crowd that switched sides on me in the middle of the match.
04:48Oh, do you think I missed that?
04:49Come on, have a little fun, fess up now.
04:52If there's one thing you can always expect at a wrestling show, it is that the crowd
04:56is unpredictable, and you may not know what's going to happen.
05:00But one thing is for sure, it will be something surely to remember.
05:03In fact, New York City, I should be thanking you.
05:07Changing sides.
05:08Cheering on Stephanie over me mid-match.
05:11That was like a lightbulb moment for me, and now I have some far more exciting stuff up
05:16my sleeves.
05:17CEO isn't a character, it's a whole entire cooperation, baby.
05:22I guess she means corporation there.
05:24And we're expanding as we speak, stay tuned.
05:27And Mercedes isn't the only one who's been shooting from the hip.
05:31Bang bang.
05:32After being called up to the main roster following a successful NXT run, Dijak was shockingly
05:37released last Thursday, where he's since gone on his own kind of revenge tour, posting
05:42a letter with his side of the story on X, sharing many stories about the terrible Vince
05:46McMahon era, he was T-Bar in Retribution, remember, and now going so far as to label
05:51WWE's business practices… illegal.
05:54In an interview with Forbes, Dijak said, I don't support releasing people.
05:59I don't think it's a secret at this point that nobody's a fan of the WWE contract.
06:05That isn't a real contract, because they can just release you at any point for any
06:09reason.
06:10I think that's silly nonsense.
06:11I don't know why that's allowed to be legal.
06:14It just feels illegal to me, and I feel like nobody's taken the time and monetary effort
06:19to challenge the legality of it.
06:21We're so clearly not independent contractors.
06:24That's the most made-up nonsense in the history of the world, and people have talked
06:28about this ad nauseam.
06:30Something needs to be done about it.
06:33Dijak has been on a media hot tag since his release, which has caused some online to turn
06:37against him.
06:38But as Mansoor points out on X, it really upsets me that people are desperately searching
06:42for a reason to hate Dijak.
06:44If you guys could only meet him, you'd know it's not hard to justify hating this miserable
06:49prick.
06:50Ooh, that's Mansoor.
06:52Sorry, let me correct that.
06:55Ooh, that's Mansoor.
06:57Elite.
06:58After reports that former WWE stars Mansoor and Mace were backstage at AEW recently, the
07:03two have been announced for their ROH debut under the tag team name The MXM Collection.
07:09Or Empire M Collection.
07:10I don't know how it's stylised.
07:12Perhaps Mace's former Retribution leader Mustafa Ali could join him and Dijak in AEW
07:17too, as the TNA X-Division champion was reportedly backstage at Wednesday's show in Chicago.
07:23Although PWInsider write it was only to visit, with no further details provided.
07:28And Fightful Select has reported Ricochet's agent was backstage at Wednesday's episode
07:32of Dynamite too, who is leading negotiations between the two sides.
07:36Ricochet's WWE contract officially expired on the 1st July, meaning he couldn't be
07:41part of the Forbidden Door show the night before.
07:44Meanwhile, that whole TNA-WWE invasion thing is still happening.
07:48Honest.
07:49NXT's Charlie Dempsey, the real-life son of William Regal, showed up on the July 4th
07:53episode of Impact, shoving Leon Slater off the top turnbuckle to then beat everyone up
07:58in the ring.
07:59And in a final bit of WWE currently wrestling news, Angel Garza has revealed in a Facebook
08:04livestream that he's signed a new three year contract with WWE, which he described
08:09as a very, very, very good deal that he couldn't turn down.
08:13He didn't criticise his booking, said he's there to do whatever WWE requires of him,
08:18and that he's not going to be on his knees like some co-workers because he's still
08:22getting paid and doing his job.
08:24Seems like that three year deal had a clause in section 19.1a of SASS.
08:40Mirror?
08:41Pete did say I should check out the, uh, text on the t-shirt here.
08:45Wait a second.
08:49Oh my god.
08:51Pete was right.
08:53It doesn't say Pipebomb greater than math.
08:56It says...
08:58Chetam.
09:00Chetam?
09:01What does Chetam even mean?
09:03I need to...
09:04I need to take a photo of this.
09:06Send it to Pete, goddammit.
09:09He was right!
09:10Taking a photo!
09:12Look at that.
09:14It's time to do some thumb filters, though, before I send it to him.
09:17Let's, uh, edit this.
09:19I know.
09:20I'll invert it.
09:21I'll do the old croppity-do switcheroo trick.
09:29Son of a bitch.
09:34Math.
09:36Greater than.
09:39Fine.
09:43Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
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